NYT Journalist James Risen To Be Sentenced For Refusing To Name Source

[red dog 1]

Fresh Air
October 14, 2014

James Risen, the New York Times reporter who was the first person to reveal the NSA's
warrant-less wiretaps, will find out soon if he is to be sent to prison for failing to reveal his source for a story about a botched CIA operation intended to sabotage Iran's nuclear weapons program.

His new book is "Pay Any Price"


He was interviewed today by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air.
http://www.npr.org/2014/10/14/356121289/journalist-talks-confidential-sources-getting-subpoenaed-and-his-new-book/

[johnnyreb]

1. Also on DemocracyNow today (link)

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/14/james_risen_prepared_to_pay_any

[red dog 1]

8. Thanks for the link!

I usually listen to Democracy Now; but I missed it today.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. if this happened under bush, we would all have a collective fit

[FiveGoodMen]

3. That's why they gave us Obama

[freedom fighter jh]

4. Yes.

Some of us are having a fit anyway.

It started under Bush.

[Recursion]

9. Judith Miller was jailed under the Bush administration for protecting a source

I wasn't on DU yet but I don't imagine there was much complaining...

[Luminous Animal]

10. There were a few.

[Recursion]

11. Thanks

I often miss the DU of the mid-oughts...

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. LOL. yes, you clearly were not on DU at the time.

[riderinthestorm]

28. Miller was jailed for refusing to name Scooter Libby as a Valerie Plame leaker

Since most of DU was aware of her fraudulent WMD-in-Iraq reporting, her protection of a high level Administration source who leaked Valerie Plames name, meant that virtually everyone on DU also smelled a rat (again).

And rightly so as it turns out.

Patrick Fitzgerald didn't press for a contempt order lightly. He did it because Miller was covering up a federal crime on behalf of criminal Bush administration members.

[liberal_at_heart]

23. +1

[truth2power]

5. Wait...I heard that interview today. I thought the trial hadn't started yet...

unless it was a repeat of an earlier show - I came in a few minutes late.

Or maybe we're dispensing with little inconveniences like trials these days. I wouldn't be surprised.

Could someone please clarify?

[red dog 1]

7. It was not a repeat of an earlier show..

Last edited Wed Oct 15, 2014, 02:32 PM - Edit history (2)

.I haven't looked at the transcript of today's Democracy Now show yet...

[Luminous Animal]

15. Isn't he being persecuted for not testifying to a Grand Jury? Then their doesn't need to be a trial

He can be sent to prison on the judges order for contempt.

[truth2power]

30. Contempt. I don't know whether to consider that good news or bad...

I wonder how long the sentence is for contempt?

[red dog 1]

22. From yesterday's Democracy Now interview with James Risen:

"James Risen now faces years in prison if he refuses to testify at the trial of a former CIA officer accused of giving him classified information.
In June, the Supreme Court turned down his appeal of a court ruling forcing him to testify in the criminal trial of ex-CIA analyst Jeffrey Sterling, who prosecutors believe gave him information on the agency's role in disrupting Iran's nuclear program.
In 'State Of War', Risen showed that instead of hampering Iran's efforts, the CIA effectively gave Iran a blueprint for designing a bomb.
James Risen has vowed to go to jail rather than testify at Sterling's trial, which is set to begin in January."
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/14/james_risen_prepared_to_pay_any/

[truth2power]

29. Ah...I remember now. Thank you. It's about refusal to testify. n/t

[librechik]

6. it did happen under Bush--the case has been in the courts since 2006.

read the OP

[red dog 1]

24. Your dog's name should be Drummer

He could start his own band.

[daredtowork]

12. I hope the judge sends a message with zero sentence.

[Blue_Tires]

13. He'll probably get the symbolic 3-4 months, and we'll hear no more of this...

[daredtowork]

14. That's still a criminal record isn't it?

[Blue_Tires]

17. A misdemeanor contempt charge?

Yeah, it's on his record I guess, but that's like a badge of honor in journalist circles...

As an aside, I still believe that at least a few of the journalists who flocked to Ferguson in August (especially those on the about the 4th or 5th night) did it just so they could boast about "being arrested" while covering a story...

[Luminous Animal]

16. Except from Mr. Risen and those who support the freedom of the press.

[Blue_Tires]

18. Risen isn't the first journo to go to jail to protect a source

and he needs to quit pretending like he is; even though I'll give him credit due for bitterly dragging his crusade this all the way to the USSC...He'll do his few months, get out, and life will go on...Either way, I will now be paying a lot more attention to the trial of his source...

I know one guy who got three months for refusing to testify in a mob trial -- No parades, no medals, no 60 Minutes interviews on national TV, etc...Once his appeals were exhausted he went in, got out and that was the end of it...

I've also heard about reporters who *DID* cough up their sources instead of facing the contempt charge, but those are stories for another thread...

The real issue is what the legal definition of "journalist" will be if congress is to ever pass that federal shield law...

And FYI, just in case someone wants to accuse me of something without really accusing me -- I've long supported press freedoms not just here, but globally...DUers need to get past the thinking that the "free press" conversation begins and ends with Risen and Greenwald...

[Luminous Animal]

19. He has never pretended that he is the first. And yes, I also understand what the "real issue" is.

The government should not be in the business of defining what is a journalist.

[Blue_Tires]

20. I'm happy to let the industry define and certify it

Last edited Wed Oct 15, 2014, 02:43 PM - Edit history (1)

like other professions have the legal ability set professional standards for themselves...

Contrary to popular belief, every mook with a keyboard can't call him-or-herself a "journalist" anymore than I can call myself a pilot or attorney or professor...

[red dog 1]

25. Here is an article from yesterday's HuffPo on James Risen

Huffington Post
October 14, 2014

New York Times Reporter James Risen Finds "Crazy Is The new Normal" In War On Terror.


From the article:
"New York Times reporter James Risen was surprised Sunday when former National Security Agency chief Michael Hayden said he doesn't see a need for the government to prosecute Risen for refusing to reveal a source."

"I'm glad to see he feels that way these days," Risen said in an interview Monday with the Huffington Post.
"I'm not sure how long he's felt that way."

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/14/james-risen-pay-any-price_n_5985382.html/

[woo me with science]

26. Journalism is anathema to corporate totalitarianism.

That is why it is being strangled and criminalized, and a propaganda machine put in its place.

Mission Creep: When Everything is Terrorism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023279560

US Uses Espionage Act To Convict Manning Using Words Added In 1990: "with a computer"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023375845

Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365713

NY Times: White House Uses Espionage Act to Silence Employees, Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101616764

Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080388

Petition Calls On Obama Stop Intimidation Of Journalists And Whistleblowers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025509395

Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023300531

James Clapper Calls Journalists "Criminal Accomplices" -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017174990

Reporters without Borders: 'Security interests threaten press freedom'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/11333723

US Plummets In Press Freedom Rankings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024487392

Obama's escalating war on Freedom of the Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023314296

Risen Case: War on Journalism coming to a head
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699216

Government Surveillance Is Crippling Press Freedoms, Report Shows
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023902153

The real reason a very loud few are posting hostility toward Glenn Greenwald at DU: (256 recs)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025036592

Obama taps "cognitive infiltrator" Cass Sunstein for Committee to create "trust" in NSA:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023512796

Salon: Obama confidant’s spine-chilling proposal: Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
http://www.salon.com/2010/01/15/sunstein_2/

The US government's online campaigns of disinformation, manipulation, and smear.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024560097

Snowden: ‘Training Guide’ for GCHQ, NSA Agents Infiltrating and Disrupting Alternative Media Online
http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/02/25/snowden-training-guide-for-gchq-nsa-agents-infiltrating-and-disrupting-alternative-media-online/

The influx of corporate propaganda-spouting posters is blatant and unnatural.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3189367

U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News To Americans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023262111

The goal of the propaganda assaults across the internet is not to convince anyone of anything.*
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023359801

The government figured out sockpuppet management but not "persona management."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023358242

The Gentleman's Guide To Forum Spies (spooks, feds, etc.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4159454

Seventeen techniques for truth suppression.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4249741

Just do some Googling on astroturfing - big organizations have some sophisticated tools.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1208351

[grahamhgreen]

27. Obama's justice dept should drop the case.

[Octafish]

31. ''Sentencing'' a Journalist.

Think what that means ... and for the United States of America.